No Question, Victory Was Big For Ole Miss

Fantastic Friday - SEC notebook

October 24, 1997|By Chris Harry of The Sentinel Staff

As he climbed on to the podium following his team's 36-21 stomping last week of overconfident Louisiana State, Mississippi coach Tommy Tuberville anticipated the questions that were about to come his way.

''Before you ask me, yes, it is the biggest win since I've been here and the biggest win for our program in a long time,'' said Tuberville, whose players won at Baton Rouge - where only a week before the Tigers had stunned then-No. 1 Florida. ''On the backs of the shirts we wear in practice and games is the word, 'respect.' I think we earned some respect today across the country.''

The victory marked the first time Ole Miss had defeated a top-10 team since 1977, when it beat then-No. 3 Notre Dame, the eventual national champion, in Jackson, Miss. Making the feat all the more amazing is that the Rebels, because of NCAA sanctions leveled on the program against former coach Billy Brewer, are operating 17 scholarship players under the NCAA limit of 85. This week, Ole Miss popped into The Associated Press Top 25 (at No. 25) for the first time since 1993.

As for LSU, which only a week before had its goal posts torn down while players bragged of sending the Gators ''to the buses crying,'' the Tigers blew a chance to pull even with Auburn in the Western Division race.

''I don't think you saw a real excited team out there,'' LSU coach Gerry DiNardo said. ''You've got to be as excited or more than your opponent. Ole Miss was more into it.''

REMATCH IN ATLANTA

AUBURN PLAYERS, coaches and fans who talked of a national championship were handed a dose of reality last week. Yet, despite the 24-10 home loss to Florida, the Tigers still are in great shape to win a different championship, the Southeastern Conference's West Division, and play for another, as in the SEC. All Auburn has to do is win three of its four remaining conference games - provided one is against Mississippi State - to assure itself a berth in the SEC Championship Game at the Georgia Dome. Should the Gators win their remaining three, UF and Auburn will stage the first SEC title-game rematch in the game's six-year history.

''If they're in Atlanta, great,'' said Tigers quarterback Dameyune Craig, who was sacked nine times against UF. ''But if they're not, I wouldn't be disappointed.''

BAD SIGN

FOLLOWING ARKANSAS' 39-13 home loss to South Carolina, players and coaches in the Razorbacks' locker room said the team was ''unprepared'' and ''not ready to play.'' That's not good, considering the Hogs had an open date before facing South Carolina.

''Arkansas was getting beat like this when we got here,'' coach Danny Ford said. ''We seem to be going backwards. It is a total failure by me. I'm very sorry. I'm very apologetic to the people of Arkansas.''

That might not be good enough. Rumblings around Fayetteville have Ford getting fired at season's end and the school going after Tuberville, a native of Camden, Ark.

ETC. . . .

SO MUCH for the hot seat - for now. South Carolina coach Brad Scott, after opening 0-3 in league play, has back-to-back wins against Kentucky and Arkansas, with Vanderbilt due in Saturday. . . . Kentucky quarterback Tim Couch needs 11 touchdown passes and 1,118 yards in the Wildcats' final four games to break single-season SEC marks of 39 TDs and 3,625 yards set by UF's Danny Wuerffel. . . . Two Mississippi State defensive stars, linebacker Greg Favors (knee) and noseguard Eric Dotson (eye), are expected back this week for the Central Florida game.